12/17/21
This week: Remembering bell hooks—plus, a wild Peloton ride, a true throwback rec, Spider-Man, and John Wilson.
TRENDS THIS WEEK
☞Youtube BTS performs a concert in the crosswalk
☞Letterboxd SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME
☞TikTok #WinterBreak
☞Spotify abcdefu - GAYLE
☞Netflix THE UNFORGIVABLE
☞Twitter Mitski
Life & Culture
Peloton stock has been on a roller coaster of a ride recently. After featuring prominently in a main character’s death on the SEX & THE CITY reboot, AND JUST LIKE THAT, it hit a 19-month low. The company rebounded with a clever ad masterminded by Ryan Reynolds’ Maximum Effort agency, suggesting they were in on the joke the whole time—or at least quick to react, and the stock price recovered half its losses. But then, on Thursday, the spot was pulled after two women came forward with sexual assault allegations against Chris Noth, who plays Mr. Big on the show and stars in the ad. Stock prices appear to be up a few points as of this writing on Friday.
In news of science catching up with science fiction, scientists in Japan are working on a special mask that can detect if the person wearing it has COVID, and will glow if the person is positive.
It looks like SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME is on track to see over $200M over its opening weekend. AMC announced Friday that roughly 1.1 million moviegoers attended just the opening night of Spider-Man: No Way Home, which makes it the highest-grossing opening night for a December title in AMC’s history.
This newsletter is going to be our last regularly scheduled send of the year, but we have something special coming your way the remaining two Thursdays of the month. But for now, I’ll leave you with the two TikToks that made me laugh and smile and feel things this week. This one will simultaneously make you laugh and remind you to have some compassion on the road, and this wholesome video will hopefully brighten your day just a little bit.
—Darlene Kenney, Digital Strategist
Travel
How does a week-long adventure in Portugal, booked on us, sound? We’re handling your flights, hotels, and breakfasts, along with kicking in $2,500 in spending money. And this is your last chance to enter here—get in there; we’re rooting for you!
Film
After winning Best Screenplay at Cannes, Ryūsuke Hamaguchi’s DRIVE MY CAR (trailer here) has been racking up awards in the past few weeks, named Best International Feature at the Gotham Awards and Best Film by the New York Film Critics Circle, and I can assure you that the movie is deserving of all of that and then some. Based on a short story by Haruki Murakami, the film follows stage director Yūsuke (played by Hidetoshi Nishijima), who accepts a residency at a theater in Hiroshima and is chauffeured around the area by the reticent Misaki (Tōko Miura). During these drives, he reflects on his marriage, trying to better understand his relationship with his wife, the clever screenwriter Oto (Reika Kirishima). Hamaguchi’s storytelling is thoughtful and affecting, and the (admittedly daunting) three-hour runtime coasts by as smoothly as Misaki’s driving. See if it’s playing a theater near you here.
—Nolan Russell, Executive Assistant
TV
HBO’s comedy docuseries HOW TO WITH JOHN WILSON (trailer here) is midway through its second season, and it has been just as funny and surprising as the breakthrough first season was. Compiled from observational footage of daily life in New York City, John Wilson’s series crafts silly, meandering, and sometimes sentimental narratives thinly veiled as a “how to” guide for basic tasks. This season’s third episode, ostensibly a guide to finding a parking spot in New York, captures a neighborhood block in Queens balletically coordinating to move their parked cars for a street sweeper before moving onto an interview with a purveyor of coffins (the final parking spot) that look like cars. If you haven’t given this unique series a try before, it’s definitely worth checking out.
—Nolan Russell, Executive Assistant
Growing up, my mom often kept a steady stream of classic shows and detective series playing on our TV. I rolled my eyes at THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW and THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW; and POIROT and MURDER, SHE WROTE were so boring I didn’t understand how anyone could stay awake for more than five minutes of runtime. All of this, I can forgive myself for, but the one that haunts me is my dismissal of COLUMBO (trailer here).
In the past few years—partially out of a need for comforting media, and partially because I've stopped being dumb—I have learned to appreciate COLUMBO for the masterpiece that it is, revisiting episodes I've seen and watching others with fresh eyes. I've grown to be someone who doesn't care about a twist or punchline nearly as much as the buildup, and COLUMBO is pretty much built on that premise. Because each episode begins by depicting its central murder, the audience is immediately aware of Hitchcock's proverbial "bomb under the table," allowing us to watch Columbo gradually and expertly box the suspect in.
While my love for Peter Falk's crumpled, unassuming detective protagonist is near-obsessive, the wild list of guest stars also make this show great. Ruth Gordon. Leonard Nimoy. Dick van Dyke. Janet Leigh (and briefly, a very young Jamie Lee Curtis). Jack Cassidy, three times... and even Johnny Cash. My favorite episode, however, remains ETUDE IN BLACK, which features John Cassavetes, Blythe Danner, Myrna Loy, and of course, the debut of Columbo's Basset hound "Dog." Watch this or any other episode on Peacock or IMDb TV for equal parts intrigue and pure serotonin.
—Alicia Devereaux, Executive Assistant
Book
It is hard to put into a short paragraph honoring the enormous legacy of bell hooks. The trailblazing feminist, professor, author and social activist passed away at her home at the age of 69 this week. A pioneer who fearlessly challenged feminism’s white, middle-class worldview and addressed the deep intersections of race, gender, class, sexuality and geography, bell hooks' influential work inspired and transformed the way many understand the world. Many Black women and scholars talk about how much bell hooks’ words resonated with them, changed their understanding of themselves and their work. bell also spoke so eloquently on reimagining love, and how it is far broader than romantic sentiment—inspiring her students and readers to love immensely and think deeply. This weekend, I’ll be re-reading AIN’T I A WOMAN and ALL ABOUT LOVE, two of her books that I read as a freshman in college when I had so little understanding of my own womanhood, critical understanding of feminism at large, and the larger concept of love. The accessibility of hooks’ words left such a strong impact on me, and if you haven’t had the chance to read her work, there is no better time to start than now!
—Mimi Li, Development Assistant